Awkward
by Little Gem Magnolia
Summary: Having girl talk with a guy always leads to awkward situations and Clare's about to find out just how awkward...Possible OOC-ness ahead so don't say I didn't warn you; slight romance but not really.


_Can Anyone Say 'Awkward'? _

_**Disclaimer: **__I do NOT own Degrassi or the characters nor do I claim to. _

_**Summary:**__ Having girl talk with a guy always leads to awkward situations and Clare's about to find out just how awkward..._

_**A/N: **This is my very f__irst Degrassi fic and the first fic I've written in a nice little bit so please go easy on the flames. __

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Adam jumped upon feeling a hand on his shoulder and apprehensively turned only to find Clare Edwards behind him.

"Hey, what's up?" He greeted, turning back to his locker as Clare moved to stand beside him, back against the locker beside his.

"Nothing much," she huffed in an exasperated tone as she looked down at her feet shyly.

Adam rolled his eyes and nudged her with his shoulder. "You're really terrible at lying, you know that?"

The girl beside him sighed as she ran a hand through her short auburn bob. "So I've been told," she grumbled, vaguely remembering Eli mentioning something about that once.

They stood in silence for a moment, Adam digging through his locker while Clare stood looking at the students that passed them on their way to lunch.

"Well are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to guess?" Adam finally questioned, slamming the door to his locker and moving to join the flow of their peers on the way to the cafeteria.

Clare's hand shot out and grabbed his arm gently, pulling him back to stand beside her. If she was going to spill her guts to Adam she was going to do it where they at least had a little bit of privacy.

"Would you be terribly offended if I wanted to talk girl talk with you?" She asked, a desperate look marring her features. "I normally wouldn't ask but Alli's been so busy sucking face with your brother that I haven't been able to talk to her in a week and I really need someone's input and I can't go to Eli..."

Adam looked stunned for a moment before studying her face. "Only for you..." he grumbled in a mock disgusted tone.

Clare's eyes lit up and she almost giggled in delight. "You're a life saver, Adam!" She exclaimed hugging him.

Her companion laughed and patted her back awkwardly before pulling away. "I get it, I'm awesome, now are you going to tell me what's up?"

The gifted student in front of him lost her glow and looked down nervously, twiddling her thumbs as she did so. "Well you see, I like this guy but I'm not entirely sure how to go about telling him...I don't even know if I should tell him..." She explained, gaining a little confidence at the understanding look on Adam's face.

"Well why wouldn't you want him to know?"

Clare sighed, "Afraid of rejection I guess...you heard about what happened with KC last year..." She trailed unsurely, sadness creeping into her eyes.

Adam nodded knowingly and placed a hand on her arm. "Not every guy is going to be a sleaze." He informed gently, a sincere smile on his face. "So...who's the lucky guy? Eli?"

Clare looked shocked for a moment before blushing and looking down. She wasn't ignorant to what the school thought of them, even Alli had all but insisted that they were going out and that Clare was lying about their current status as friends. Despite their obvious chemistry, Clare couldn't help but feel that there was something missing when they were together, something that she realized she'd already found with someone else and even if she did feel for him in that way, he was always holding something back.

"No it's not Eli..."

"What's not Eli?"

Startled, Clare quickly whirled around to find the subject of their conversation standing directly behind her, staring at Adam and herself with curious eyes. "Umm...well..." she stammered looking to Adam, desperately pleading for help of any kind.

"You're not...the reason she's been so irritated lately." Adam quickly supplied, tiny beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Eli had that effect on people, he could make you feel so awful like you were deceiving him or committing some sort of wrong against him even if you weren't.

"Is that right?" He wondered aloud, a skeptical expression on his face as he turned to Clare. "Then what's irritating you?"

Clare bit her lip as she thought hard for something to say; Adam had already done half the work now she just needed to complete the story he'd so easily concocted.

"Well I-" She began only to stop as a figure around Eli's height approached them from behind Adam.

Clare smiled as the figure came closer and she recognized the dark hair and eyes of the guy who had quickly become one of her best friends despite having met him under the strangest circumstances.

"Ready to grab some lunch, Sister Edwards?"

Many people had nicknames for her ranging from religious names such as Saint Clare to playful ones like Baby Edwards and Clare-Bear but there was only one person who talked to her as though she were some kind of nun and, as much as she wanted to be offended by that, she couldn't bring herself to be mad.

"Sure," she responded, smiling warmly at the one person people were more shocked to see her hanging around with than Eli.

A hand reached out and grabbed her arm, effectively stopping her attempt to skirt around Adam and join the newcomer.

"Introductions would be nice..." Eli trailed, glaring at their guest suspiciously. He'd seen the guy around school and he knew that he was a junior but that was where his knowledge of Clare's new friend ended.

Sighing, Clare shook her arm from Eli's grasp. "Of course, _dad_," she grumbled, moving to stand in the middle of her companions. "Eli this is Reese."

Adam needed no introductions since he'd met Reese the other day when he'd stopped by her locker to get her for lunch and she didn't even bother telling Reese who Eli was. Reese always seemed to know who just about everyone was and she didn't ask how because it never seemed matter.

Reese nodded civilly but Clare could see a dark gleam in his eyes, it was the look he got when he wanted to make a comment but held back for her sake, she'd learned it well. Knowing Reese, he most likely wanted to weigh his opinion on Eli's choice of attire seeing as how he already knew all about Adam and it wasn't in Reese's taste to bully females, transgender or not.

Turning to glance at Eli she saw a similar gleam though she wasn't entirely sure how to interpret it; she hadn't bothered to learn all of Eli's moods.

"What's up, dude?" Adam started uneasily, he was always wary about conversing with people he barely knew, especially people with Reese's reputation.

Reese stared at Eli for another minute before finally turning to Adam and holding his hand out. Adam hesitated a second before taking his hand and proceeding to do some manly hand-shake-thing that Clare didn't even bother trying to understand; they were getting along and that was all that was important to her at the moment.

"Just trying to convince this hot little number to give me the time of day." Reese laughed jokingly, wrapping his free arm around Clare and pulling her into his side as the hand shake ended.

Adam raised an eyebrow and shot Clare a knowing look before winking and saying: "Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem for long."

An amused smirk played on Reese's lips and his grip on Clare tightened. "You don't say..." He trailed teasingly, eyes glued to Clare's blushing face as Eli watched on, scowling fiercely at the scene before him. "I think we have some talking to do, don't you?" To any normal person it would have sounded like he was just messing with her but somehow Clare got the feeling that she was in for it once they were alone.

Eli felt like gagging, he just had to do something to keep Clare away from this Reese person. "So, how long have you guys known each other?"

Clare rolled her eyes and let her head fall to Reese's shoulder. "About a year..." she answered suspiciously; what was Eli's game?

"How did you meet?"

Now it was Adam's turn to roll his eyes as he leaned back against the lockers behind him but Reese didn't seem offended by the third degree in the least, even chuckling at the disgruntled Eli, making the hearse-driving teen dislike him even more.

"I terrorized her boyfriend last year." Reese sneered, joyful mirth lighting up his face as he silently laughed at the jealous boy in front of him.

Clare sighed and brought her hand back into Reese's stomach, prompting his silent laughter to become public. "We barely even knew each other when that happened." She reminded with a playful glare.

"Oh yeah, that's right, we didn't start going to the ravine together until summer..."

At that, Adam began choking on the very air he was breathing, turning shocked eyes to a blushing Clare as Eli shot him a curious look. Eli had no idea what 'going to the ravine' entailed but Adam had heard tell of what happened there and was shocked to hear that Clare even knew where it was, let alone actually spent time there.

"What's so special about the ravine?" Eli inquired, a clueless expression on his face.

The blush that had previously dominated Clare's features immediately disappeared as she took Reese's hand and began walking backwards.

"Ugh...it's just a local...hangout." She rushed, letting Reese thread their fingers together as he followed her. "Catch you guys later!"

Eli and Adam watched them go, Reese's deep chuckles being the only sound echoing through the empty hall.

"What's so special about the ravine?" Eli suddenly repeated turning to Adam, still at a loss as to what had just transpired.

Adam laughed nervously and slung his arm around Eli's shoulders as he steered them toward the cafeteria. It was going to be a _long_ lunch period and Adam could only hope that Eli believed in not shooting the messenger...

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_Okay, there it is, my first Degrassi fanfic. It's majorly lame, slightly fluffy and some characters might be terribly OOC but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway. Please remember to review, the button doesn't bite, I swear! _

_-Lark_


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